Recloseable packaging is particularly suited for packaging of food products when it is desired to repeatedly remove relatively small quantities of the food product. Such food products include cereals, rice, candies, and the like, and may also include meat food products, such as chicken, frankfurters, sliced meats, etc. While the use of recloseable, flexible bags having twist-tie wire fasteners or plastic clasps has long been known, recent advents in recloseable packaging have included configuring packages to have integral zipper-type fastener assemblies, including interlocking profile strips. In such arrangements, the package is typically opened by cutting or tearing a portion of the package to gain access to the fastener assembly, with opening and closing of the profile strips of the fastener assembly thereafter permitting the package to be selectively opened and closed.
While packages having integrated profile strips fastener assemblies are becoming common in the marketplace, heretofore, such arrangements have typically required specialized packaging machinery for forming and filling such packages. Notably, U.S. Pat. No. 5,461,845 discloses a recloseable package, and method of formation, which is specifically configured to facilitate use on conventional, so-called form, fill, and seal machinery. This type of machinery forms and fills packages with a food product (or other articles) by forming a package from a web of plastic film material or the like, and substantially simultaneously filling and sealing the package. The package disclosed in the above-referenced patent includes a profile strip fastener assembly which is configured such that a plurality of fastener assemblies can be provided on a substantially continuous web of package-forming material. The web of packaging material can be formed at, or supplied to, a conventional form, fill, and seal machine, with the machine operated in a generally conventional manner to package the product as desired. By the provision of the profile strip fastener assembly in the front wall portion of the package, convenient reclosability of the package is provided without resort to twist-tie fasteners, plastic clasps, or the like. The above-referenced patent is hereby incorporated by reference.
The present invention contemplates a recloseable package in the form of a bag which is configured for use with conventional form, fill, and seal machinery, with a method of making bags in accordance with the present invention also disclosed.